Federal Officials Will Take A Second Look At Kansas Voting Request

A federal agency has been ordered to take another look at the national voter registration form and consider a change requested by Kansas and Arizona. The two states require proof of citizenship in some cases when registering to vote. The states want the federal form to include instructions on the document requirement.

"Because the agency has right now basically said 'we're in limbo, we can't act,'" says Kobach. "And what that means for the state of Kansas and for the state of Arizona is that we cannot fully enforce our laws with respect to one particular form people use for registering."

The commission says it hasn't acted yet on the request because it is short on commissioners.

Kansas and Arizona filed a lawsuit, and a federal judge says the agency must make a decision by the middle of January. Federal law doesn't require proof of citizenship when registering to vote.

Kansans who use the federal form sometimes have their registrations put on hold because they don't include citizenship documents like a birth certificate.

Voter registration applications for more than 12,000 people in Kansas are on hold because of missing documents that could prove U.S. citizenship. A state law that took effect this year requires people who register to vote for the first time in Kansas to prove their citizenship.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach says he's considering a rule change that could allow some of those voters to cast ballots in certain elections.